MARTIN O’Neill has targeted building a squad capable of sustaining a challenge, not just in the Premier League but in Europe and both domestic cups.

The Villa boss caused heartache among the club’s supporters with his decision to apparently forsake the UEFA Cup by sending out a weakened squad to CSKA Moscow for this evening’s round-32 second leg.

O’Neill clearly believes Villa need as much help as they can get to continue their remarkable season in the Premier League.

But in the future he hopes to be able to rotate quality players around, which is the hallmark of the so-called ‘big four’, to give him a better chance of ending the club’s 13-year wait for silverware.

“We are making progress at the football club and we are hoping that as we bolster the squad with more quality we will be able to sustain on, not one or two, but maybe three or four fronts at this time of year,” he said.

Villa are playing their 43rd game of the season tonight – compared to just 41 last year.

They still have at least 13 games ahead of them over the next two-and-a-half months.

O’Neill is also wary of the amount of football his many full internationals – on demand throughout the season – are playing.

“The international players never get a break. They are always on the go”, he said.

Villa are in the midst of a critical time with games coming up against Stoke City, Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United as they attempt to keep a six-point cushion over Arsenal.

A win in Moscow tonight, as unlikely as that sounds, could complicate their run-in.

“If we qualify for the next stage of the UEFA Cup then we are still involved so it’s a pretty hectic schedule,” admitted O’Neill. The fact we are in the last 32 definitely played a part in our thoughts (for picking a weakened squad), it’s not as if we are in the last eight yet or anything like that.

“You take those things into consideration. The priority, as we have always said, is the league. We have got ourselves in a great position.

“We are not ninth, 10th, 11th or 12th. Other sides like Manchester City could really concentrate on the UEFA Cup at the moment, it is not that sort of scenario for us.

“It is straightforward. We have got momentum going in the Premier League and we want to try to maintain that.”